Strinqing pianos



(No Model.)

0. S. WEBER. STRINGING PIANOS.

N0L'6O6,179.. Patented June 21,1898.

W a w E a Q it 0 or top piece.

nrnni'r @rrrba- CHARLES S. IVEBER, OF SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA.

srninemePiANos.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 606,179, dated June 21, 1898.

Application filed Ju y 26, 1897. Serial No. 646,012. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, CHARLES S. WEBER, a citizen of the United States, residing at San J os, in the county of Santa Clara and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stringing Pianos; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled'in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in stringing musical instruments, for which Letters Patent No. 536,111 were granted to me on the 19th day of March, 1895; and the object of this invention is to improve the construction of the sound-bridge and add to the efficiency of the instrument.

To these ends the novelty consists in the construction, combination, and arrangement of the same, as will be hereinafter more fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, the samereference characters indicate the same parts of the invention.

Figure 1 is a transverse section of the soundboard, sound-bridge, and the adjustable rail Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3 is a detail View of one of the string-bearing wires.

1 represents the sound-board, 2 the bridge, and 3 the top piece or rail.

4 and 5 represent two series of staple-like strin g-bearin g Wires arranged upon the bridge and rail, each of said wires being formed with parallel spurs or prongs 6. The bearingwires 4 project downwardly from the center of the rail and their prongs penetrate said rail, while the bearing-wires 5 are secured by their prongs to the bridge and arranged in transverse pairs in two oppositely-disposed series, one at each side of the central line of the bridge, as shown in Fig. 1.

7 represents the strings, and in the present instance I have shown them in groups of three for each note. These strings extend over the staple-like bearing-wires 5 transversely of and on a line between the bridge and rail and are compressed by'the bearingwires 4 and clamped between the face of the rail and the Wires 5.

8 represents a bolt arranged between adja cent groups of strings, and it extends vertically through the sound-board 1, the bridge 2, and the top piece or rail 3.

9 represents the head of said bolt, and 10 .is a metal washer resting under the head.

12 is a hard-wood disk, somewhat larger than the washer 10, and it is arranged on-the said bolt between the metal washer 10 and the sound-board 1, its office being to prevent the metal washer from indenting the contiguous face of the sound-board.

13 represents a metal washer resting on the top piece or rail 3, and 14 represents the nut encompassing the threaded end of the bolt 8, by means of which the sound-board,the bridge, the strings, and top piece or rail are firmly and rigidly clamped or compressed together, so as to greatly facilitate and increase the transmission of the vibrations of the musical strings to the sound-board.

A great advantage of this improvement in the construction is that the number of holes bored through the top piece and into the sound-bridge can be reduced to less than half what was necessary in the old construction,

where the number of holes was equal to the number of strings or notes.

Another advantage is found in the fact that the top piece can be made continuous-that is, it embraces a great number of notes without any divisions or cuts, as were rendered necessary in the old form of construction, and also for a more perfect fitting of the top piece over the sonnd-bridge, where the varying thickness of the strings interfered with a close fit.

In the present construction the fitting is done simply by means of the compression produced by the aid of the bolts, and to further facilitate this fitting I place the string-bearing wires 4 and 5 one above and two below,

sufficiently close to cause a pressure of the string-bearing wires on an adjoining string of less thickness.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and useful, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, 1s-- 1. In stringed instruments, a sound-bridge provided on its upper face with two longitudinal series of staple-like bearing-wires 5 spaced apart and arranged in transverse pairs, the bearing-Wires of each pair being located at opposite sides of the central line of the bridge, a string or strings extending across the bearing-wires of each pair, a rail provided at its lower face with a central longitudinal series of similar-spaced staple-like bearingwires -ladapted to bear upon the said strings on a line between each pair of bearing-wires on the bridge, and adjustable connections uniting the bridge and rail, substantially as described,

52. In stringed instrun'lents, the combination of a so1n1d-board l, a bridge 2 mounted thereon, two series of spaced staple-like bearing-wires 5 having their prongs entered into the upper face of the bridge, said series being arranged in transverse pairs located at opposite sides of the central line of the bridge, strings 7 extending across the bearing-wires of each pair, a rail 8 adapted to clamp the strings against said bearing-wires, a longitudinal series of spaced staple-like bearingwires at having their prongs entered into the lower face of the rail and adapted to bear upon said strings on a line between each pair of bearing-wires 5 on the bridge, bolts 8 extending up through the sound-board,bridge and rail, a nut 14 engaging the threaded end of each bolt, and Washers 10 1S encompassing each bolt between the head of the bolt and sound board, and nut and rail, substantially as de scribed.

in testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHAR/LES 52%. W hliiitlt.

Witnesses:

J. M. SHILNE, F. A. Sciinimnc. 

